Millersport High School renews Wall of Fame

Millersport Junior Coty Wells knows exactly which school track record he wants to beat next year. New record boards are displayed in the school cafeteria.
MILLERSPORT – A brand new athletic Wall of Fame will be unveiled with the start of the new school year in the cafeteria of Millersport High School.

Students have already been crowding around new record boards as the boards have gone up, Athletic Director Scott Pohlman said, deciding where their own names will go as they acknowledge the success of their predecessors and prepare to cross those hurdles faster, hit one more home run or put up another threepointer.

“This wall allows us to honor our past student athletes who have found success and also provides motivation for our current student athletes. In a community this close-knit, this is important,” said High School Principal Chuck Leedle.

The project has been in the works for a year-and-a-half, according to Pohlman. It includes the record boards for each varsity sport and newly designed Wall of Fame plaques with photos and descriptive name plates, all put together by School Pride Inc. The record boards and plaques feature the Laker’s anchor logo and school colors. Together, they line one whole wall of the cafeteria.

Millersport High School’s cafeteria boasts a refurbished Athletic Wall of Fame. Current student athletes (left to right) Coty Wells, Chris Green, Cara Woods and Brandi Allison say they are motivated to their best performance by the reminder of other students’ success and records displayed there. Beacon photos by Kim Garee.
Former displays, which include retired jerseys, can still be seen in the school’s weight room.

Track records were the first to go up in the project, due to Coach Ken Keener’s meticulous record keeping over his 39 years as varsity track coach, Pohlman said. There was fast demand from students in other sports to see their records displayed, as well, which prompted Pohlman’s hunt for school sports records from newspapers articles, scrapbooks and coach’s notes. As word spread, parents of former student athletes contacted the school with clippings and statistics, as well.

“In the case where old records could not be found, current achievements will be used as the benchmark,” Pohlman explained.

Wall of Fame plaques honor 17 student athletes who achieved league, district and state honors. Photos of athletes Steven Budnick, Jerry Click, Clark Dixon, Terry Heimerl, Garland Snyder and Eric Alexander are all currently being digitally restored due to fading from light exposure, some of the photos dating back as far back as the early 1960s. Other honorees on the “Wall” include Brett Kaminski, Kevin Hardy, Matt Everitt, Dustin Holm, Jayce Watson, Teddy Keller, Adam Booze, Alex Hopkins, Kerry Green and Miranda Smith.

“As our athletic programs continue to get more competitive, more athletes will be added,” Pohlman said. “In just the last three years, four athletes have achieved all-state honors.”

Leedle said the Wall of Fame boasts a new standard of professional consistency that the public will be able to see completed by the first day of school.

“There’s just been a lot of interest in this, especially on the part of students,” he said. “It’s already done a lot to get student athletes excited about their potential.”